It is conventional in the citrus industry for pickers to empty pick-sacks into a tub or bin placed near the trees being picked. A harvesting implement is driven between the rows of trees and is stopped next to a filled tub. The implement operator uses an articulated mechanical arm to pick up the filled tub and to dump it into a dump bin that is subsequently emptied into an on-road truck for transfer to a processing plant.
In order to maximize the number of producing trees in a grove, citrus growers commonly plant trees in "hedges" made up of rows of trees separated by narrow aisles or "drive middles" that allow access by various agricultural implements such as sprayers, hedge trimmers, and harvesters. The width of such drive middles is currently limited by the size of the harvester and tubs. The harvesting vehicle is commonly about seven feet wide and carries an articulated crane arm that swings some three feet to one side. The tub, which is conventionally a round pan-like plastic container with frusto-conoidal sides and a reinforcing rim of nominal three inch channel iron topped with a hoop made of one-half inch steel rod, is usually five feet in diameter. Thus, the grower must either provide aisles at least fifteen feet wide, or accept damage to the trees caused when the harvester operator drives into or swings an articulated arm into tree branches when picking up a full tub or when dropping off an empty one.
In additional to damaging trees, conventional harvesters also pose a safety hazard to both pickers and implement operators. If a tub is bumped against a tree or against a side of the implement while being handled, it can fall and cause injury. Since the usual one hundred pound tub holds a nominal nine hundred pounds of fruit, the potential for damage and severe injury is high.
Because of the awkwardness of present harvesters, it is conventional practice in the citrus industry to manually move emptied tubs from one aisle to the next. Moving a heavy tub can injure a worker, and rolling the relatively sharp edges of the tub rail over irrigation hoses can sever the hoses and cause a subsequent loss of water and expense of repair.
Fruit harvesters are represented in the prior art by:
McKenna et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,187,927, who teach an articulated vehicle with a tray receiving means on the front end thereof, a dump bin on the aft end thereof, and a conveyor means for moving picked fruit from the tray to the bin.
Rempel, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,666,126, who teaches a harvesting implement comprising two lifting mechanisms used to pick up filled containers of fruit or other produce, to dump those containers in a dump bin, and to stack the emptied tubs. Rempel's dump bin is subsequently elevated to transfer the produce to a truck or other vehicle.
Rempel, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,633,336, who teaches a tub stacking mechanism used on a fruit harvester.
Phillips, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,450,436, who teaches a high-lift side dump mechanism.